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Indonesia, EU, announce historic deal on timber trade

Thursday, September 15, 2016 - 19:41

Indonesia will in November become the first country in the world to export wood products to the European Union meeting new environmental standards in a move aimed at bolstering transparency and curbing illicit logging.

PHOTO: AFP

[JAKARTA] Indonesia will in November become the first country in the world to export wood products to the European Union meeting new environmental standards in a move aimed at bolstering transparency and curbing illicit logging.

Officials from the European Union and Indonesian unveiled measures Thursday to ensure timber exports to the trade bloc, valued at roughly US$1 billion a year, are sustainable and harvested within the law.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest timber exporters but the sector is plagued by criminality and corruption, and vast swathes of tropical rainforests have been felled for sale on the black market.

From mid-November special licences issued by Jakarta will certify the legality of timber products destined for the EU such as pulp, plywood and furniture.

"Indonesia has achieved great progress in bringing its forest sector under control and improving transparency," Putera Parthama, a senior official from Indonesia's forestry ministry, said in a statement.